Sveikatos tyrimų laboratorija / Health Laboratory

Šiame straipsnyje pristatomos 2024 metais atlikto reprezentatyvaus sociologinio tyrimo apie pacientų elgesį, įpročius, lūkesčius ir pasirinkimus Lietuvos nacionalinėje sveikatos priežiūros sistemoje (LNSS) išvados. Tyrimo tikslas – suprasti, kaip asmenys suvokia sveikatos priežiūros paslaugų prieinamumą ir organizavimą reformų ir popandeminių iššūkių kontekste. Išvados rodo, kad dauguma gyventojų, per pastaruosius trejus metus naudojęsi sveikatos priežiūros paslaugomis, susidūrė su problemomis, ypač COVID-19 pandemijos metu. Pirminė sveikatos priežiūra yra patikimiausia, tačiau antrinėje ambulatorinėje priežiūroje kyla daug kliūčių. Tyrimas pabrėžia, jog tenkinant pacientų poreikius reikia geriau koordinuotų, skaidresnių ir labiau integruotų paslaugų. Reikšminiai žodžiai: pacientų elgsena, gyvenimo eigos sveikata, sveikatos politikos formavimas, pacientų įtraukimas, socialinių ryšių poveikis sveikatai. .

This study examines how sports organizations can expand internationally through innovative strategies, with a focus on esports. As traditional sports organizations pursue growth in global markets, esports offer a distinct advantage with its large, digitally native audience. This research investigates the role of product placement in esports to boost brand visibility and effectiveness. Using case studies and data, it evaluates the impact of strategic placements on engagement and brand perception across different international markets. Findings reveal that innovative marketing, particularly through esports product placement, is essential for reaching new demographics. The study highlights how traditional sports and esports integration can create a powerful hybrid model, enhancing audience engagement and fostering international growth. Ultimately, it concludes that effective product placement in esports not only raises brand visibility but also builds connections with a diverse, tech-savvy audience, significantly supporting the global expansion efforts of sports organizations.

Straipsnyje analizuojami dviejų reprezentatyvių Lietuvos visuomenės nuomonės apie sveikatos priežiūros paslaugų (SPP) kokybę ir prieinamumą tyrimų rezultatai ir jų pokytis per 10 metų. Atskleidžiama, kaip buvo įgyvendinama SPP kokybės politika ir kuriama vertė pacientui, taip pat aiškinamasi, kaip ji veikia SPP kokybę.

The success of health policy and the healthcare sector is increasingly measured in terms of the dynamics and changes in public trust in the healthcare system, the quality of services provided by healthcare facilities matching people’s expectations, and the fulfilment of patient needs. In order to ensure the required efficiency of public services and to provide better-quality and more accessible healthcare services that match the expectations of the population, it is necessary that the recipients of these services (patients) themselves are actively engaged in improvement processes. Therefore, increasing importance and value is placed on the engagement of the patient in the process of improving healthcare services as an active and informed participant of the healthcare system.

Patient-centered care is considered to be one of the essential pillars of a modern healthcare system. Thus, quality assessment based on patients’ perceptions, views and experiences in their journey through the healthcare system is recognized as one of the key principles for quality improvement initiatives. Measuring patient satisfaction can be confounded by expectations and prior experiences, which can be at least partly overcome by evaluating patient-perceived healthcare quality (PPHQ). Understanding the principal constituents of PPHQ may aid healthcare professionals and decision makers in the healthcare management process and help in creating instruments to meaningfully measure patient feedback. Herein, we aimed to analyze the primary determinants of PPHQ and their interactions, with a focus on patient experiences and healthcare accessibility, using the example of Lithuanian primary healthcare. For this purpose, we conducted a cross-sectional representative telephone survey that included a total of 1033 respondents (48% male) who had encountered primary healthcare during last 3 years. Survey questions consisted of sociodemographic characteristics, patient perceptions of healthcare service provision, patient experiences, self-reported health status and overall PPHQ ranked with a 5-point Likert scale as the primary outcome. The classification-regression tree (CRT) technique was used to analyze the relationship between different explanatory variables and PPHQ, as well as their relative importance and interactions. The majority of respondents (89%) evaluated PPHQ as acceptable or good. CRT analysis identified staff behavior, organizational accessibility and financial accessibility as the most important factors affecting PPHQ. Importantly, the latter factors surpassed the effect of other known PPHQ determinants, such as sociodemographic characteristics or health status. Further analysis has revealed that the relative importance of staff behavior, including understanding, attention and empathy, increased when more problems with organizational accessibility were encountered. In conclusion, our study suggests that PPHQ in primary healthcare may primarily be determined by organizational and financial accessibility and staff behavior, which may also act as an important mediating factor.

Patient-centered care is recognized as a key element in recent healthcare management strategies. However, the integrated collection of patient feedback capturing the entire journey of patients with complex medical conditions remains understudied. Herein, we aimed to describe the development of an instrument prototype for the collection of PROMs and PREMs that would encompass a whole patient journey at a single time point. We further describe the process of its integration into a hospital’s information system (HIS) and the results of a pilot feasibility study in adult patients with kidney and hematological diseases. We developed an instrument consisting of original PREM and generic EQ-5D-5L questionnaires. E-questionnaires were handled with REDCap software (version 12.5.14) and integrated into the HIS. Patients refusing to use e-questionnaires (48%) were offered paper administration and were older (64 vs. 50 years). The overall response rate for e-questionnaires was 57.1% with a median completion time of 2.0 and 3.7 min for PROM and PREM, respectively. Psychological and social services and primary care setting (diagnosis establishment and involvement in continuous care) were identified as most problematic. The majority of PREM dimensions encompassing different levels of care significantly correlated with PROM responses. Our data indicate the feasibility and potential relevance of the proposed approach, although wider-scale studies in diverse settings are needed.

Straipsnyje aptariami reprezentatyvaus Lietuvos visuomenės nuomonės tyrimo apie sveikatos priežiūros paslaugų (SPP) kokybę ir atitiktį pacientų lūkesčiams rezultatai. Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti, kaip pacientų požiūriu tiriamu laiko- tarpiu veikė SPP teikimo sistema, ir nustatyti SPP atitiktį pacientų lūkesčiams tam tikruose sveikatos sistemos lygiuose. Tyrimo metodai. Apklausa vykdyta 2021 m., joje dalyvavo 1 033 respondentai. Tyrimo imties pasiskirstymo repre- zentatyvumas pagal lytį, amžių ir gyvenamąją vietą ne mažesnis nei 95 proc., lyginant su Lietuvos statistikos departamen- to 2020 m. duomenimis. Tyrimui atlikti buvo parengta apklausos anketa, ją sudarė bendrieji (socialiniai, demografiniai) klausimai bei klausimų grupės, kuriomis buvo vertinama pacientų patirtis kreipiantis į sveikatos priežiūros įstaigas, ati- tiktis jų lūkesčiams tam tikruose sveikatos sistemos lygiuose, pasitelkiant paciento kelionės etapų diskretizaciją, SPP prieinamumas ir kokybė, taip pat identifikuojami sunkumai, su kuriais pacientai dažniausiai susiduria, jų elgsena pajutus negalavimus, gydytojų ir pacientų bendravimas. Tyrimo dalyviai apibendrintai įvertino, kaip teikiamos pirminio, antrinio ir tretinio lygio SPP. Tyrimo rezultatai ir išvados. Tyrimo metu nustatyta, kad didžiosios dalies pacientų patirtis, susijusi su sveikatos priežiūros sistemos veikimu, atitinka jų lūkesčius. Pagal paciento kelionės stoteles analizuojant, kaip teikiamos SPP, mažiausiai atitinkančiomis lūkesčius laikytinos šios paslaugos: registracija ir patekimas pas gydytojus, slaugytojų ir gy- dytojų specialistų (antrinio lygio) paslaugos. Stebimi didesni pacientų lūkesčiai ir empatijos bei jų įtraukimo į sprendimų priėmimo procesą poreikiai vizitų pas gydytojus metu. Pirminio, antrinio ir tretinio lygio SPP kokybės vertinimų vidurkis varijuoja nuo 3,4 iki 3,6 balo (iš maksimalių 5). Galima teigti, kad Lietuvoje SPP sistema pacientų požiūriu vertinama kaip funkcionuojanti nepakankamai kokybiškai ir yra taisytina.

Improving health care quality is a continuous goal that requires constant attention and innovative solutions. One of the sources from which we can learn about what quality changes are needed is patient experience. "Collaboration" is one way to develop instruments and use them to gather knowledge about patient needs related to the patient journey and measures to improve the quality of services, such as service collaboration. The direction, in terms of the identification of patient needs and relatively urgent changes to the system, depends on the organizational culture determined by leadership. Different approaches towards leadership initiate different outcomes and consequences. Collaborative health care leadership comes with the decision to strengthen collaboration between health professionals and patients, thus addressing service quality gaps. Therefore, it becomes important to understand patients’ expectations in terms of such cooperation. The study aim is to investigate whether patient satisfaction barriers can be linked to shortages in collective leadership. All three dimensions of collaborative leadership (horizontal collaboration, interorganizational (vertical) collaboration, and collaboration with patients) demonstrate the link between leadership and accepted health care quality.

Improving health care quality is a continuous goal that requires constant attention and innovative solutions. One of the sources from which we can learn about what quality changes are needed is patient experience. "Collaboration" is one way to develop instruments and use them to gather knowledge about patient needs related to the patient journey and measures to improve the quality of services, such as service collaboration. The direction, in terms of the identification of patient needs and relatively urgent changes to the system, depends on the organizational culture determined by leadership. Different approaches towards leadership initiate different outcomes and consequences. Collaborative health care leadership comes with the decision to strengthen collaboration between health professionals and patients, thus addressing service quality gaps. Therefore, it becomes important to understand patients’ expectations in terms of such cooperation. The study aim is to investigate whether patient satisfaction barriers can be linked to shortages in collective leadership. All three dimensions of collaborative leadership (horizontal collaboration, interorganizational (vertical) collaboration, and collaboration with patients) demonstrate the link between leadership and accepted health care quality.

Recently, customized manufacturing is gaining much momentum. Consumers do not want mass-produced products but are looking for unique and exclusive ones. It is especially evident in the furniture industry. As it is necessary to set an individual price for each individually manufactured product, companies face the need to quickly estimate a preliminary cost and price as soon as an order is received. The task of estimating costs as precise and timely as possible has become critical in customized manufacturing. The cost estimation problem can be solved as a prediction problem using various machine learning (ML) techniques. In order to obtain more accurate price prediction, it is necessary to delve deeper into the data. Data visualization methods are excellent for this purpose. Moreover, it is necessary to consider that the managers who set the price of the product are not ML experts. Thus, data visualization methods should be integrated into the decision support system. On the one hand, these methods should be simple, easily understandable and interpretable. On the other hand, the methods should include more sophisticated approaches that allowed reveal hidden data structure. Here, dimensionality-reduction methods can be employed. In this paper, we propose a data visualization process that can be useful for data analysis in customized furniture manufacturing to get to know the data better, allowing us to develop enhanced price prediction models.